Ubisoft Shooter Video Games For Xbox One
Ubisoft has made quite a name for themselves by pumping out mostly decent games since the 2000s. It was the Tom Clancy series’, starting with Splinter Cell, that really put Ubisoft on the map. With the exception of Assassin’s Creed, I’d say it’s still Tom Clancy titles that keep Ubisoft kicking. Today we will take a look at Ubisoft’s Xbox One gun games and compare apples to oranges.
Rainbow Six Siege is my favorite of the current generation shooters.
Rainbow Six Siege pits players in a single life, hardcore style, objective-based combat. One team defends the objectives inside of a building as the other attacks from outside. You then have the options to rappel up onto the roof, send in remote-controlled camera cars, or break down walls leading to the objective.
Finally, the teams then rotate and you’ll get your chance to play defense. Reinforce walls, set up proximity alarms, and use closed-circuit cameras to scout out approaching attackers. The defense team and offense teams each have separate large rosters of characters to choose from which keeps the matches fresh.
Next up is the Far Cry Series.
Rainbow Six Siege has literally no storyline and no campaign to speak of, whereas Far Cry is engaging, funny, and even disturbing. The Far Cry team successfully mixes humor, drugs, and intrigue with “cooperative optional” open-world shenanigans. With tight maps and tactical play, Six Siege didn’t have a need for vehicles. The Far Cry series’ takes place over the entire States and Countries complete with Boats, Bikes, and Whirlybirds. Accurately operating the sloppy vehicles doesn’t seem to be a point of interest for the design team.
With that said the controls are better than Ghost Recon Breakpoint soapbox derby cars. Far Cry has objectives dotted throughout the map with memorable locations for shootouts and story arcs. In fact, Far Cry is almost like playing Ghost Recon Breakpoint, if every single bit of Ghost Recon Breakpoint wasn’t a horribly painful experience from the pits of hell.
The Division is Ubisoft’s shot at a Gun RPG.
The Division is a squad-based, player versus AI, cover shooter. It is complete with skill trees, crafting, and unlockable base upgrades that in turn give you access to new active and passive abilities. The game is set in the months following an outbreak of the deadly “Dollar Flu”, a highly contagious disease that ravaged the country. That is eerily similar to our COVID America and hits close to home as looters and rioters destroy or occupy large sections of City Blocks.
The Division has great map design during dungeon instances however the cityscape is massive and small vehicles would have been a welcome addition. None of the glass walls, doors, or buildings are breakable and you can’t scale the up and down the buildings. It is fun in its own right but feels limiting when compared to Far Cry and it’s full array of vehicles or for Six Siege its wide scope of destructible environments.
Ghost Recon Wildlands was awesome and Ghost Recon Breakpoint was awful.
I’ll focus briefly on Breakpoint, I’m just so upset at Ubisoft’s wasted potential. Their other successes should combine to make the Ghost Recon Series a real flagship series. Breakpoint has the largest map and the worst vehicles. The vehicles drive like a wet bar of soap. The story was Axe Body Spray and Natty Light Beer. It is a tough guy story about a tough guy getting betrayed, but being tough. Then he gets the bad guy who betrayed him! How tough! Each mission objective was between seven and twelve kilometers away from the last. One more time to enjoy the worst vehicles of an entire gaming generation.
Where is Splinter Cell!?
The third person spy action shooter that put Ubisoft on the map is the quietest of all of their titles. As Ubisoft focused their attention on Assassins Creed and the easy to use fluid movement mechanics, Splinter Cell has fallen silently to the wayside. An entire generation of gamers has fond memories of Spies vs Mercenaries in Splinter Cell Pandora. Grabbing a merc and activating proximity chat whispering gingerly in his ear “<deep sniff> Damn baby, you smell good, what cologne is that?” Then finishing your assassination. Spies vs Mercenaries pits two spies against two mercenaries, while the spies have access to rooftops, vents, and gadgets allowing infiltration, and subterfuge.
The mercenaries are armed to the teeth with big ass assault rifles, spicy trip mines, deadly traps, and armor. A reimagining of this Spies vs Mercenaries game-type with some inspiration from Six Siege could make for a great new Splinter Cell title. They just need to have multiple characters, reinforced and destructive walls, and weapon load-outs
In the next generation of Ubisoft shooters, I’d love to see better vehicles, if a vehicle is in the game it should be fun, not just point A to point B. In the next generation of shooters, I’d love to see even more character customization, I’m happy to have a beard and haircuts, now I want to be fat, thin, tall, or short. I loved the skill trees in The Division and in the next generation of Ubisoft shooters, I’d love to see it expanded, like Path of Exile’s skill tree.
Thanks for all the games Ubisoft, cheers to another generation of shooters! Catch me streaming most nights on Twitch at 8:30 til midnight central time zone and follow me on Twitter for comedy. Check out more video games on Nerdtropolis.
